Stapling machine



Aug. 4, 1931. RAlG 1,817,803

STAPLING MACHINE Filed Jan. 25, 1928 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 Maw.-

Craig Aug. 4, 1931. E. CRAIG 1,817,803

STAPLING MACHINE Filed Jan. '23. 1928 s Sheets-Sheet 2 Aug; 4, 1931. E CRAIG 1,817,803

STAPLING MACHINE 7 Filed Jan. 23, 1928 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 Aug. 4, 1931. E. CRAIG 1,817,803 STAPLING MACHINE- I Filed Jan. 25. 1928 s SheetsSheet 4 31 ggk i i l L/ 33 E. CRAIG STAPLING MACHINE 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Jan. 23, 1928 Patented Aug. 4, 1931 [UNITED STATES. PATENT oFHcE nnwnnncnnro, or sr. .aosnrn, MICHIGAN, Assrenon *r-o san u ne AUTOMATIC :MA- --cncnvn CORBOBATION,.OF neuron HARBOR, moment. a .conronnrronor DELA- WARE STAPLI'ENG "-MAGHINE.

Application filed January 23,1928. gem-aim. 24?,586Q

. This invention relates 'to machinery for stapling materials together, and more specifically to machinery for making .wirebound box blanks or crate blanks. f

Generally stated, the object of this 1nvention is to provide a novel and lmproved vconstruction whereby the work feeding crate blanks.

- Fig. 4 is a detail I of said crate blank.

means of a machine of this kind are actuated by an intermittent ratchet feed mechaset forth and claimed and shown in the accompanying drawings in which Fig. 1 is an end elevation of a stapling machine embodying the principles of the invention, being specifically, as shown, a machine for making wirebound box blanks or Fig. :2 is a side elevation of the machine shown in Fig. 1, withtheleft-hand end portion of said machine omitted for convenience of illustration. H Fig. 3 is a vertical longitudinal section on line 3 '3 inFig. 1. r r

section on line 44 in Fig. 3; r

'Fig. '5 is a detail section on line 5-5 in -ig..6 1s a plan view of a crate blank made on said machine. I Fig. 7 1s an edge view or-side elevation Fig. 8 is anenlargeddetail view aportion of .the' ratchet wheelshown in Fig. 2 of the drawings.

' Fig. 9 is a View similarjto Fig. 8., illus tratinga different form of the invention.

prises a main body framel mounted onf a suitable base 2, these upright side frames being rigidly connected togetherby hars3 and 4 as shown. A main driving shaft .5jis

mounted on the bar '3 are actuated by. theeccentric devices 7, of any suitablecharacte-r, carried on the said shaft .5, which latter is character, said clutch pulley being con trolled by a'hand' lever 9 through the medium of suitable connections, whereby the machinemay be started and stopped at Will.

The machine is provided with parallel cleat guides '10 and with parallel endless vfeed belts 11 mounted on sprockets 12 carried by the transverse shaft 13 which is mounted in suitable hearings on thebody frame att'he;

discharge end, of the machine. 'It willfbe understood that similar shaft andlsprockets are provided for said feed chains at the other end of the machine, but are not shown for convenience ojf'illustration. Said feed ,As thus illustrated, the invention cbmmountedin hearings in .the upp'er portions i 'of said side'frames, and the staplersfi mated a clutch p eys r any'suitabb belts or sprocket chains are provided with means of any suitable character for propelling the cleats 14 in the guides 10, and

for spacing and propelling the strips 15 of veneer or other suitable sheet material, so that the cleats and sheet material will be held in proper relativeposition and-carried under the staplers for the insertion of the staples 16"by which the binding wires 17 are secured to the blanks, and by whichjthe will be understood that the wire for forming sheet material is secured to the cleats.

the staples can be. fed to the staplers "in" any suitable or desired manner, and that the binding wires canalsobe fed orguided into;

position to be stapledto the blanks, by any suitabletor desiredmeans, q The blank materials are placed hand, or otherwise, upon the feed belts,.and in the cleat guides,

and the materials are carried along under showing the staplers, and theblanks thus made are discharged at the right hand rend-0f the .ma chine shown in Fig. 2 of the drawings. a

It will be seen that the staples 1-6 are not uniformly spaced, and do not occur atreg- 'out interruption.

ular intervals on the work, and for this purpose ratchet feed mechanism is provided comprising a ratchet wheel 18 having adjustable ratchet teeth 19' on the periphery thereof, these teeth having set screws 20 by which they can be adjusted and held in adjusted position at different points on the periphery of the wheel. Gearing 21, 22 and 23 connect the shaft 24 with the shaft 13, the said ratchetwheel 18 being mounted on said shaft 24 as shown, whereby rotation of said shaft 24 will rotate the shaft 13 and thereby operate the endless feed belts 11 previously mentioned. The shaft 24 is carried by an adjustable bearing support 25 mounted on the frame member 26, and this member 25 is adjustable longitudinally of the frame26 by means of the screw 27 which has a handle 28 for the rotation thereof, this screw being held against endwise displacement by the bearings 29 and 30, whereby the distance between the shafts 13 and 24 can be varied to permit the substitution of gearing of a different ratio, when it is desired to change the length of feed of the feed belts. The shaft 24 is driven by a friction clutch comprising the outside friction members 31, which are keyed to this shaft, and the inside driving friction member 32 which is loose on said shaft, a coil spring 33 on said shaft serving to keep the friction members of the clutch crowded tightly together, and this thrust being sustained by a thrust bearing 34 of any suitable character. The member 32 is driven continuously by a sprocket belt 35 operated by a sprocket wheel 36 on the shaft 5 previously mentioned, this belt being trained or guided around the idle sprockets 37 and 38 in the manner shown in Fig. 3 of the drawings. This, of course, would give the feed belts 11 a continuous motion, instead of an intermittent motion, and to insure such intermittent motion the stop dog 39 is provided, pivotally mounted at 40 on the arm 41 carried on the transverse rock shaft 42, which latter has another arm 43 connected by the rod 44 with the eccentric or cam device, of any suitable character, on the shaft 5 previously mentioned. 'A spring 46 connects the rod 44 with the body frame to actuate the rod in one direction. construction, the dog 39 is alternately interposed in the path of the teeth 19, then withdrawn, so that the ratchet wheel and the gearing and the feed belts are given an intermittent motion, notwithstanding that the sprocket chain 35 and the driving member'32 of the clutch operate continuously and with- In other words, the continuous friction, drive is automatically converted, by the ratchet wheel and its stop dog 39, into intermittent feeding motion on the part of the endless chain or feed belts, thereby to give the work the required intermittent stoppage below the staplers necessary WVith this for the insertion of the staples. By adjusting the teeth 19 to predetermined points on the periphery of the ratchet wheel, the spacing of the staples can be controlled, and the insertion of the staples can be rendered accurate, and the points of insertion of the staples may be made to occur at irregular intervals or at any predetermined points on the blanks, depending upon the size and shape of the materials, some blanks requiring different spacing of the staples/than blanks. of different character.

In 9 it will be seen that the teeth 47 are integral with the sprocket wheel, instead of being detachable and adjustable as they are in Fig. 8, and sprocket wheels of this kind having integral teeth can be used if desired. For example, a plurality of these wheels can be provided, having the teeth thereof spaced differently, and one such ratchet wheel can be substituted for another, if desired, instead of using a ratchet wheel having adjustable teeth.

Thus the ratchet wheel 18 is adapted relatively to make one complete rotation for each blank made on the machine, starting from substantially the middle of one space between two blanks and terminating at the middle of the next space between blanks. In this way the ratchet wheel 18 repeats on each blank, so to speak, so that the staples will be driven and placed in the same way on each blank. The successive staples on each blank can be uniformly or non-uniformly spaced, as may be required, by using the adjustable teeth 19, or by using a plurality of interchangeable ratchet wheels of the kind shown in Fig. 9 of the drawings. When the length of the blanks is changed. then the ratio of the gearing between the ratchet wheel 18 and the shaft 13 will be changed accordingly, in order to properly locate or place the staples on the blanks. Therefore, the blanks can be made either longer or shorter, as may be desired, by substituting different gearing between the ratchet wheel 18 and the shaft 13, in a manner that will be readily understood.

What I claim as my invention is:

1. In stapling machinery, a plurality ofstaplers, an overhead actuating shaft therefor, in combination with work feeding means for intermittently feeding the work under the staplers, a continuously operating friction driving connection for communicating power and motion to said feeding means, driven from the overhead stapler actuating shaft, and motion-converting mechanism between said friction driving connection and said work feeding means, said mechanism having means operative to convert the continuous motion of said driving means into intermittent motion of said feeding means.

2. A structure as specified in claim 1, said mechanism comprising a ratchet wheel having an automatically operating stop dog for intermittently stopping the rotation of said wheel, oscillatory about an axis parallel with the axis of said wheel, said ratchet wheel being driven by said friction driving connection.

3. A structure as specified in claim 1, said mechanism comprising a ratchet Wheel having the teeth thereof set at irregular intervals around the periphery thereof, and an automatically operative stop dog for said wheel, oscillatory about an axis parallel with the axis of said wheel, thereby to insert the staples at irregular intervals on the Work.

4. A structure as specified in claim 1, said mechanism comprising a ratchet wheel having the teeth thereof 'set at irregular intervals around the periphery thereof, and an automatically operative stop dog for said wheel, oscillatory about an axis parallel with the axis of said wheel, thereby to insert the staples at irregular intervals on the Work, said teeth being adjustable along the periphery of said ratchet wheel, thereby to vary the spacing of the staples, and means forming a third axis of power transmission between said first axis and said second axis.

5. A structure as specified in claim 1, said friction driving connection comprising a friction clutch on the axis of said mechanism and including an endless sprocket chain for continuously driving a member of said clutch, driven from said over-head shaft.

6. A structure as specified in claim 1, said mechanism including a ratchet wheel having an automatically operating stop dog, oscillatory about an axis parallel with the axis of said wheel, and said driving connection comprising a sprocket wheel and a friction clutch on the axis of said ratch wheel.

7. A structure as specified in claim 1, said mechanism comprising gearing and being adjustable to accommodate gears of different ratios to thereby lengthen or shorten the feed stroke.

8. In stapling machinery, in combination with work feeding means for intermittently feeding the work under the staplers, operative about a plurality of axes, a feed mechanism for communicating motion to said feeding means, power transmitting means from said mechanism to said feeding means, said mechanism comprising a ratchet wheel operative about a different axis and held against axial displacement and having an automatically operating stop dog oscillatory about an axis parallel with the axis of said wheel, to intermittently stop the rotation of the ratchet wheel at predetermined intervals, thereby to space the staples in predetermined manner on the work.

9. A structure as specified in claim 8, the teeth of said ratchet wheel being adjustable to vary the action of said dog and the spacing of the staples on the work.

10. A structure as specified in claim 8, in combination with means for communicating power to said ratchet wheel, the transmission of which power to said feeding means is intermittently interrupted by said stop. dog.

11. A structure as specified in claim 8, said feeding means being adapted to feed flat box blanks, said ratchet wheel having a complete rotation for each blank.

12. A machine for making box blanks, comprising work controlling means operative about a plurality of axes and having positioning elements for the different parts of each blank, mechanism for driving fasteners into the box blanks to fasten together the parts thereof, and instrumentalities controlling the operation of the work controlling means to position fasteners in the work, operative to space the fasteners in predetermined relation, said instrumentalities comprising a ratchet wheel operative about another axis and having teeth spaced around the periphery thereof, and making a complete rotation for each blank, to be thereby operative to repeat the predetermined placing of the staples oneach blank, means for rotating said wheel, and an automatic stop dog oscillatory about an axis parallel with the axis of said wheel for engaging and disengaging said teeth, to intermittently stop the rotation of said wheel. 7

13. In stapling machinery, in combination January, 1928. j

- EDWARD CRAIG. I 

